Nine cool things to do in Tucson this weekend (Feb. 17-19)

The Tucson Improv Movement continues its "Soapbox" storytelling series this week with five "short and personal" stories according to the Facebook event page, including one from Rocco DiGrazia, owner and operator of Rocco's Little Chicago, 2707 E. Broadway.

No theme is mentioned on the Facebook page. Admission is $5. The show starts at 9 p.m. at Tucson Improv Movement, 329 E. Seventh St.

The Dance Theatre of Harlem will fill Centennial Hall with vibrant movement this Friday, as they come through as part of UAPresents' 2016-17 arts season.

The 14-person touring troupe's repertoire runs the gamut from neo-classical to traditional to contemporary.

Highlights from Friday's program: The world premiere of "Vessels," with choreography from Darrell Grand Moultrie and "Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven," a work created for the Royal Swedish Ballet in 1993.

Seem's like only yesterday that Fini's Landing, Tucson's homage to the beach culture and cuisine of the Caribbean, Mexico and California, opened its doors in a small strip mall at 5689 N. Swan Road.

This weekend, the restaurant will celebrate five years in business with food specials all day Saturday, including the return of Fini's Ribs, a plate that will include cole slaw, cowboy beans and homemade cornbread for $5

Fini's will start the main celebration with a screening of the Arizona-Washington basketball game at 6. Local reggae-rock band SKITN will take over as entertainment starting at 8 p.m.

According to the Facebook page: Chief Curator Becky Senf will present a look at Adams’ life through her favorite pieces in the Center’s archives at 2 p.m. For those looking to dive deeper into the archives, Leslie Squyres, Head of Volkerding Study Center, will offer small-group tours of the Adams drawers in the From the Vault exhibition (space is limited, please sign up at the check-in table the day of the event to reserve your spot). Guests can also enjoy a very special Adams print viewing and experience the artist’s work up close and unframed. There will also be vintage cameras on display, Adams books to peruse, and cake!

After all, Hall knows Trump in a way that few other comedians do: He won the New York billionaire’s reality TV show “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2012 and got to spend some one-on-one time with the man who now occupies the White House.

“I’m not surprised at anything he’s done, but I’m surprised that America wanted my old ‘Apprentice’ boss for president,” Hall said last week during a phone call to chat about headlining the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation’s “100 Years of Celebration” fundraising event.

Hall is equally surprised that Trump and Hillary Clinton topped their respective tickets in the 2016 presidential race. Hall also has ties to Clinton; he’s known the former secretary of state and her husband, ex-President Bill Clinton, since the early 1990s when Hall invited the then-president to play his saxophone on “The Arsenio Hall Show.”

“I think it’s a prank from God. For God to ask us to choose between Hillary and Trump? That’s like asking me to choose my favorite Menendez brother” (Erik and Lyle, who are serving life sentences for murdering their parents in 1989), said Hall. “Would you like Lyle or Eric in the Oval Office? It’s two people I did not ever think I wanted as president.”

Hall comes to us two years after returning to standup after an extended leave that started with the birth of his son in 1999. He slowly stepped back in several years ago, stealing five minutes in George Lopez’s show, 10 in the middle of Dave Chappelle’s and Cedric The Entertainer’s.

“When you get back to it, you don’t just jump on and do your old act,” he explained.

It’s like making a quilt, one patch at a time. Five minutes becomes six, then 10, then a half-hour and finally a full hour show.

“I would get these texts from Dave Chappelle. He would say, ‘Me and Cedric the Entertainer and Deon Cole are at a rock club in Hollywood. Why don’t you come on over.’ And I would go. And Chris Rock would call, ‘Meet me …’ and I would go. I would get on stage four, five nights a week and all of a sudden they were letting the old G ride with them again, and I got it back.”

Hall tried to get his longtime friend Eddie Murphy back on stage with him, but with the exception of Murphy doing a joke during the 2015 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremonies at the Kennedy Center, he has resisted doing standup for 30 years.

“Unfortunately what I didn’t think about is Eddie can make a promise, but he’s got too much money to keep it,” Hall joked. “He’s one of the greatest to do it and I know he’s not afraid. I think he’s just too comfortable.”

“I don’t think there’s anything more important than laughter, other than possibly love. But I think it heals. I think it keeps you young,” said Hall, 61. “I just thank people for continuing to buy what I sell, because really at the end of the day, it’s about laughter.”

As for Trump, Hall thinks he’s not likely to hear from his old “boss” any time soon.

“You know eventually Trump will throw shade on everybody if you don’t support him,” the comedian said. “You know what I miss? I miss staying in Trump hotels. That’s one thing I keep tellin’ the brothers. Everybody’s saying, ‘Ah, man, don’t do it. Don’t stay in Trump hotels.’ But if I’m on the road and I have to stay at a Jill Stein Embassy Suite or something, I like Trump hotels. They are gorgeous.”

A long list of local bands, including The Mission Creeps, Keli Carpenter, Mitzi Dasheya Cowell and the Leila Lopez Band (Leila featured above on left,) will take the stage as part of a show dubbed "Won't You be My Neighbor" on Sunday in support of the International Rescue Committee.

The IRC "responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future," according to its website.

The groups will perform at 191 Toole, at 191 East Toole Avenue, starting at 3 p.m. and every last penny of your $5 admission goes to the organization.